It Has To Stop

And, it is not a black or white, young or old, male or female problem. Everyone is doing it and sooner, rather than later, it has to stop.

Here it is.

Driving with your dog in your lap.

This absolutely has to stop.

Watching a lady in a car recently and she was swerving back and forth and back and forth and I pulled up next to her and was concerned and then, I see a dog running wild in the front seat.

This was my reaction to her out the window:

This is a report from the NHTSA in 2012:

****While most cats get the crate treatment, dogs typically get to roam, tongues wagging in the breeze. That little bit of freedom comes at a price. In a 2011 survey sponsored by AAA and pet travel gear company Kurgo, 23% of pet owners said that during the past year, they had used their arms to restrain dogs while applying the brakes.

Another 19% took one hand off the wheel to prevent pets from climbing onto the front seat, while 17% admitted to holding dogs in their laps during car rides.****

And when you read a little further, this should wake you up:

****That’s like putting groceries on your lap; you are not going to be able to handle the wheel safely,” says Ines de Pablo, an emergency response expert who created a pet safety gear company called Wag’N Enterprises. “When that air bag deploys, the animal will be smashed between the air bag and driver, which won’t help the driver.”****

“Which won’t help the driver.” Sure about that? When my kids were young, I strapped them in like they were on a mission to Mars. Heck, Harry Houdini could not have gotten out of my restraints.

Look, I got no problem if your dog is in the back seat, hanging that goofy head out of the window and barking at the wind, because it is NOT THE FRONT SEAT!